Percy and the Marks of the Big Three
by The Queen of Valencia Torgue
Summary: As a reward for beating the giants, the gods grant Percy a special gift- the ability to turn into a shadow-traveling flying sea dragon. Immediately, however, Athena gives him a quest with just one goal. Keep Annabeth safe without letting her know about the dragon thing. And with all of this going on, why can't Nico stay awake? Completed-ish!
1. Boom- We Saved the World

**Hello! First of all, thank you. You have bothered to click on this story. I hope you find it enjoyable. Secondly, some of you may be confused. As of 1/13/13, this story has been overhauled. I have combined some of the earlier chapters to make them longer, and re-edited some of it for clarification. If you are new to this story, know that you are getting the improved version. This first chapter combines the former first and second chapters. Thanks again! I do not own PJO. Enjoy.**

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

"…My daughter, Annabeth Chase shall receive a set of Iris-linked direct-line magical walkie-talkies." Athena, the goddess of wisdom said.

Annabeth stepped forward. The Seven of the Prophecy, namely Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Hazel, Frank, Jason and Piper, as well as a few of their other friends were all standing in the throne room on Olympus receiving gifts. The battle had been fierce, the journey long, but at last they had defeated Gaea and her crazy Giant army. And now, as Leo had put it, it was 'present time.'

Bowing to her mother, Annabeth accepted her new walkie-talkies and thanked the gods for their gift, then backed into line with the others.

Poseidon, the sea god, stood up. "Percy Jackson!" he bellowed.

Percy stepped forward. "Yes, Father?"

Poseidon looked around a little nervously. "You shall receive your gift in private." The next instant, Percy found himself in a small room with Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades.

"Okay, what's going on?" asked Percy.

Zeus rolled his eyes. "Well Jackson, we have a bit of a dilemma. You see, this is the second time you have saved Olympus from destruction."

Percy nodded slowly. "Yeah…so?"

Hades sighed. "So, are options are limited. The Gods don't like being in debt, Percy. Save us once? We offered you godhood, although you turned us down. Save us twice? Now that's just embarrassing."

"So your pride is hurt," Percy said. "What does that have to do with rewarding me?"

"Well, son," said Poseidon, "That only leaves us with a few options. One is to make you a god whether you like it or not. Most of the gods would be just fine with that, but Aphrodite pointed out that a certain daughter of Athena would probably resign as the Olympus architect if we did that without your consent. Seeing as how Olympus has never looked better, we decided that option is out. Unless you've changed your mind…"

Percy shook his head. "No way."

Hades smirked. "Told you."

"You be quiet," Zeus grumbled. "Well then, Jackson, here is option number two, my personal favorite. We kill you now, and turn you into a constellation. That way, you're remembered and honored forever, your friends can still see you, and you're out of our hair. How does that sound?"

Percy was incredulous. "And what makes you think that Annabeth would like that option any better than the last one?"

"Is that a "no" then?" asked Zeus.

"Yes," said Percy, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's a yes?" asked Hades hopefully.

"No!" shouted Percy. "I mean, yes, it's a no for option two."

Hades shrugged. "Oh, well. It was worth a shot. Okay, option number three. We grant you a personal gift, just like the others, and send you on your way with the understanding that you try to never save the world again. How does that sound?"

Percy thought about that. "Well, it's better then the other two. Any other options?"

The Big Three all looked at each other.

"Well, Ares was just saying that he needs a new training dummy…" Zeus started.

"I take option three," Percy said hurriedly.

Poseidon nodded. "Very well. What do you wish?"

Percy thought for a moment. Scenes from his recent quest kept playing themselves over and over in his mind; the difficulties of trying to reach the Doors of Death when he wasn't even supposed to be in hades, his troubles with getting to Greece to meet the others when he couldn't travel by air, and all the other things that had slowed his progress, just because it was another god's realm. Percy knew what he wanted. "I've made up my mind."

"Oh, good," said Zeus.

"Took you long enough," said Hades.

"What do you desire?" asked Poseidon.

Percy took a deep breath. "I would like to be welcome in all three of your realms."

The three most powerful gods looked at each other.

"One moment, please," said Zeus and the next instant they had disappeared. A minute later, they were back.

"Okay, Jackson. We shall grant your request. But… it might be a bit painful."

Percy shrugged. "That doesn't bother me. I'm used to pain."

"Well then," Poseidon said, "I'll start." He held out his right hand and clenched it into a fist so that the signet ring he was wearing stuck out. "Hold out your arm, Percy."

Percy raised his arm, palm upwards, and offered it to his father.

Poseidon held the ring up to his mouth and whispered something. When he brought it away, it was glowing green. "Alright. Ready, son?"

Percy nodded, and Poseidon pressed the ring into Percy's forearm. Percy flinched, but didn't pull away. After a minute, Poseidon removed the ring. Where it had been, there was a glowing green mark in the shape of a trident, about an inch across.

Percy examined the mark. "Cool."

Zeus stepped forward. "My turn." He too, pressed a ring onto Percy's arm, right next to the first one. When he brought it away, it left a glowing blue lighting bolt.

Hades was last. He quickly prepped his ring and branded Percy with it, leaving the shape of a glowing black helm in it's place.

When at last all three had finished, they examined their work.

"Yes, this will do," said Zeus after studying the marks. "Now Jackson, here is how they work. You will still be able to travel in your father's realm as usual, but for the other two you will need to use the marks. If you concentrate hard enough, the marks will allow you to turn into a creature that is welcome in all the realms, alright?"

"Hang on," said Percy, "You mean these marks will turn me into something else?"

"Just temporarily. You should still be able to revert to your human form at will," assured Hades.

"Okay, what creature will I be?" asked Percy.

The Big Three looked at each other again. At last, Poseidon answered. "We don't know, Percy."

"What?" Percy yelled, but before he could demand some answers, Zeus waved his hand and Percy found himself back in the Throne room. He blinked, startled. In his absence, the throne room had been converted to party mode.

The nine Muses were rocking out on the dais, which looked a little funny seeing as how they were all wearing togas. One of the gods, probably Apollo, had trapped fire in different colored floating orbs, which were bobbing around like very dangerous balloons. Just as he was examining the streamers made of pure gold, someone called his name.

"Percy!" Piper McLean fought her way through the crowd towards him. "There you are," she said once she had finally reached him.

"Hey, Piper. What's up?"

"Annabeth's looking for you, and she seemed worried."

Percy frowned. "That's not good."

"No, it isn't," Piper agreed. "I'd find her fast if I were you."

"Okay. Thanks, Piper." Percy watched her as she walked away, and then looked down at his arm. To his surprise, the marks were gone. Just as he was starting to wonder if they had ever been there at all, he was distracted by a flash of blond hair over by the buffet. "Annabeth!"

Annabeth looked around, and caught sight of him. She smiled, looking relieved. "Percy! Are you okay?"

Side-stepping a pair of Roman campers, Percy finally managed to reach Annabeth. "I'm fine. I think."

"Oh good," Annabeth said. "I was worried. When you disappeared like that…"

"The Big Three wanted to give me my gift in private," Percy explained. "They weren't sure how to reward me."

Annabeth slipped her arm through Percy's and led him out on the dance floor. "What did they do?"

"Well, they debated three options," said Percy. "The first one was to make me a god whether I liked it or not."

Annabeth looked furious. "What? But they can't, it would—"

"Needless to say," Percy interrupted, "I did not choose that one."

Annabeth nodded. Good," she said fiercely.

Percy continued. "The second choice was to kill me and turn me into a constellation."

"What?!" Annabeth was horrified.

Percy shrugged.

"I don't believe them," Annabeth muttered. "Are the gods really that crazy?"

Thunder shook the room as a response to her question.

"Well," Annabeth said, "Since you're not a god, and you're not a constellation, I'm guessing that you took the third option?"

Percy nodded, but did not elaborate.

They danced in silence for a minute.

"So?" Annabeth prompted.

"So what?"

"What was the third option?"

Unconsciously, Percy rubbed the spot on his arm where the marks were. "Um, can I tell you later?"

She frowned. "I guess so…"

They lapsed into silence again.

"Percy!" a voice called over the music.

Percy turned to find Nico diAngelo standing behind them. "Hey, Nico. What's up?"

Nico shrugged. "Nothing much. I love my new shield. See?" He held up a round shield that looked quite strange. It was black, but it had a weird glass covering that was protecting—

Percy blinked. "Nico…"

"Yes?"

"Does your shield double as a display case for your Mythomagic figurines?"

Nico beamed. "Yup. Plus, it's enchanted to be super light so that I can put as many figurines in as I want and it never gets heavy."

Annabeth smiled. "Cool."

Nico nodded, and then looked at Percy. "So what's your gift?"

"He won't tell me," explained Annabeth, looking annoyed.

"Why not?" Nico asked Percy.

Percy rubbed his arm again. "Listen, I promise that I'll tell you, but not right now.

Both Annabeth and Nico were looking at him reproachfully, but he didn't feel as if he could tell them—especially as he didn't even know what exactly his gift did.

Just then, one of the muses called out that the next song would be the last dance.

Percy sighed. "Annabeth?" he asked, gesturing towards the dance floor.

She shrugged. "I guess."

Percy took her hand, and they walked out on the floor.

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Question time! If you could receive one gift from the gods, what would you ask for?**

**Please favorite and subscribe! Reviews are also quite welcome. Queen out!**


	2. New Power and a Guest

**Hi again! The revisions to this chapter have included combining the former chapters three and four. I do not own PJO. Thanks for reading!**

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

Percy awoke with a jolt. For a moment, he was panicked. Where was he? Tartarus? No, not dark enough. The Argo II? No, he couldn't hear the soft hum of the engines. He sat up and looked around groggily. A wave of relief rushed over him as he realized he was back in his cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Memories of the night before flooded back to him, including the uncertainty surrounding his new gift.

He looked over at the water clock on his night stand. 5:46 a.m. Well, as long as he was up, maybe he should try out his gift. The only other people up at this time were the Apollo kids, all of which liked to be up to salute the sunrise.

Sparked by this idea, Percy quickly got dressed, double-checked that Riptide was still in his pocket, and slipped quietly out of his cabin.

He soon found that Camp Half-Blood was eerie so early in the morning. The normally bustling camp was deserted and still. Nobody was out and about. On the horizon, the sky was just starting to turn lighter.

Percy hesitated a moment, wondering where to go, and then headed to the woods. He would have gone to the beach, but the Apollo kids liked to hold early morning sing-alongs there sometimes. Reaching the edge of the tree line, he glanced back, making sure that he wasn't being followed, and then slipped silently into the woods.

He moved quickly, automatically slipping into his stealth mode as he walked. He liked moving in stealth mode. Doing it was simple, he simply gathered the water molecules in the air around himself until they formed something resembling a watery suit of armor. The best part was that it didn't make any noise. He kept walking until he was in a well secluded part of the forest, and then turned off his stealth mode.

He glanced around again before rolling up the sleeve of his hoodie. Nothing. His arm looked the same as it had always been. He closed his eyes, and then realized that he didn't know what to concentrate on. After debating some ideas, and getting slightly distracted by the random blue jell-o, he finally just focused on how the marks had looked on his arm. When he opened his eyes, he found that they were back, glowing faintly in the dim light.

"Now what?" he muttered to himself. He sat down against a tree and studied the marks. After a while he simply stared into space, trying to think of what he might concentrate on to activate the gift. Just as he was starting to become rather frustrated, one word popped into his mind. _Three._

Before Percy even had time to wonder where the thought had come from, a strange feeling hit him like a tsunami. It was an uncomfortable sensation, but not particularly painful. He shuddered as he suddenly felt a change come over him, as if he had turned into a blob of play-dough in an enthusiastic three-year-old's hands. He curled into a ball and closed his eyes.

It must have only been about three minutes until it was over, but it felt more like an hour. When Percy finally opened his eyes and sat up, he was momentarily disoriented. Everything appeared to have shrunk, seeing as how his head was now level with the tree branches fifteen feet above the ground. He absently reached up to scratch his neck, but his fingernails just slid off. Surprised, he looked down at his hand and froze.

His hand was covered with shiny scales in three different colors; sea green, sky blue, and death black. Where his fingernails had been, there were now a set of two-inch talons that would rival any daughter of Aphrodite's. Startled, he tried to stand up, but ended up falling on all fours. Looking at his feet, he saw that they had suffered the same transformation as his hands, and that his legs had shrunk in proportion to his body. A sudden idea dawned on him of what he might be, and he took off running. He ran as fast as he could to the stream, and looked down into it, smoothing the water using his son-of-Poseidon powers. The face of a dragon stared back at him. His idea had been correct.

Percy was stunned. A dragon? He had turned into a DRAGON?! Twisting around, he found that he now had wings, as well as a tail. He could have been Peleus's long-lost brother. Tentatively, he stuck his head into the stream. Well, he could still breathe underwater.

He decided to try out his new wings. It took his a few tries, but finally he could rise into the air. He didn't go too high, for fear of being seen, but found that he liked flight.

The last thing he tried was shadow traveling. Surprisingly, he got on the first try, managing to travel over to the other side of the stream. His second attempt failed though, as well as his third. Frustrated, he gave upon shadow travel for the moment.

Sitting back on his hind legs, he looked around at the forest. Okay, he knew what his gift was. But what should he do about it? What would Annabeth think? How would he tell her without her freaking out on him?

Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light. He averted his eyes from its source, knowing better than to look.

"Perseus Jackson."

The light faded, and Percy looked over to find that a tall woman dressed in full Greek battle armor had appeared on the riverbank. He recognized her at once. "Athena."

Athena looked him up and down. "I see that you have discovered how to activate your gift. Fine creatures, dragons. Deadly, but fine."

Percy wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "Uh, thanks?"

The goddess brushed aside his statement of gratitude with a wave of her hand. "I did not come here to compliment you, Jackson. I have to talk to you."

"_Uh oh."_ Percy thought. Out loud he said: "Oh. What about?"

Athena shot him a calculative glare. "My daughter."

"Which one?" he asked, shrinking back to human form and sitting down on a boulder.

The Wisdom goddess rolled her eyes. "Annabeth, of course. She loves you very much."

Percy shrugged, grinning internally.

Athena continued. "You have saved Olympus twice now. I much as I don't like to admit it, you have proved yourself a hero. To everyone else anyway."

"But not to you?"

She glared at him. "I haven't forgotten your folly in the second Titan war. My daughter almost died."

Percy flushed. "I know."

Athena nodded. "Well, that brings me to why I am here. Before I can approve entirely of your relationship with my daughter, you must show me that you are worthy of her."

"Okay." Percy shrugged. "What do you want me to do?"

Athena smiled, but it wasn't reassuring. "I will commission a quest for my daughter, one that you must accompany her on. Throughout the quest you will face many challenges. Your job is to keep her safe, no matter what. If even one hair on her head is harmed—"

"It won't be." Percy stood up. "I accept the task."

Athena nodded. "Good. Oh, and there's one more thing…"

"What?"

"You can not tell anyone about your new gift or about this task that I have just given you. Goodbye." The goddess disappeared in a flash of light, leaving a frustrated Percy standing alone on the riverbank.

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><p><strong>What do you think so far? It's starting to go somewhere...<strong>

**Thanks again! Review/favorite/subscribe, please! -Queen out!**


	3. Lame Prophecies and Gophers

**Hi again! In case you were wondering, I decided to post all the reformatted chapters at once, so it would be fair to the returning readers. Here is what used to be chapter 5, and now is chapter 3. I still own nothing. **

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

After the goddess had left, Percy headed back to the camp. When he got there, he found that more people were up and starting to go about their morning tasks.

"Hey," said Conner Stoll in passing. "Chiron is looking for you and Annabeth."

Percy thanked him, and headed toward the Big house. He had a feeling he knew what this was about, and sure enough, by the time he got there, both Chiron and Annabeth were waiting for him, as well as Rachel.

"Morning. Conner said you were looking for me?" Percy asked Chiron, coming over and putting an arm around Annabeth as he talked. "Morning, Wise Girl," he whispered in her ear.

"Ah, yes, Percy. Good to have you. I received an Iris-message from Athena this morning. She has asked that Annabeth be given a quest."

"Oh, really?" Percy tried to look surprised.

Chiron frowned at him. "Yes. Athena also instructed that you were to accompany her on this quest."

It was Annabeth's turn to look surprised. "Really? She said that?"

Chiron nodded. "Yes. Do you have an objection?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Of course not. It just doesn't seem much like her, that's all."

Smiling, Chiron said, "I thought the same thing. Even asked her twice to be sure. He's supposed to go. Any other questions?"

Annabeth yawned, and leaned her head against Percy's shoulder. "I don't think so."

"Very well then. Miss Dare?"

Rachel stepped forward, then took a seat on one of the deck chairs. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they glowed green. She opened her mouth, and green smoke billowed out. In a voice that was not her own she stated:

_The Daughter of Athena is issued a quest_

_North she must go, and then to the west._

_Death and the Ocean her companions must be,_

_As she gathers the things that belong to the sea._

_An oyster, some coral, a lure and a fish,_

_If she ever wants granted her fondest wish._

_Return them at last and when all is done,_

_She may have mother's blessing to date ocean's son._

The smoke gathered itself back into Rachel, and when she blinked, her eyes were her own again.

Annabeth blinked. "Well that was… different."

Rachel shrugged. "Hey, I don't come up with them. I'm just the messenger. What did it say?"

As Annabeth relayed the prophecy to Rachel, Percy was coming to the realization that this was going to be a lot harder then he had initially thought. Keeping Annabeth safe wasn't necessarily going to be the hard part. No, the hard part would be keeping his secret from her.

"Percy? Will you please go find Nico?"

"What?" Percy asked, snapping out of his thoughts, "Oh, sure. Why?"

Annabeth yawned again. "Well, Death and the Ocean are supposed to be my companions. That means either Nico or Hazel, but because Nico represents the Death aspect, I'm opting for him."

Percy nodded. "Gotcha. Are you planning on leaving immediately?"

Annabeth frowned. "I'm not quite sure yet. The prophecy seemed rather vague. Just 'north, south, find these things. That isn't wonderfully specific."

Percy was about to say, "Well, we'll just wing it," when he realized that that wasn't such a great idea. Usually when they 'winged it', it tended to get them into a ton of dangerous situations. So instead he said, "You're right. We need a plan. Chiron, do we have any equipment that lets us track sea artifacts?"

Chiron thought for a moment, stroking his beard. "Well, we have you."

"Me?" Percy asked, surprised.

Annabeth nodded slowly. "I suppose he would work. Percy, have you ever tracked anything sea-related before? Something that wasn't in the water, I mean?"

Percy shrugged. "Not on purpose. Usually those things just kind of fall into my path."

Annabeth smiled. "That works. Now go find Nico!"

Nico was asleep in his room when Percy finally tracked him down.

He had been in the Hades cabin before, but not any farther than the front room. The way the cabin was laid out, there was a main front room, and then through a door, two rooms with a divider down the middle, one side for boys, one for girls. Nico had not wanted it this way, but Annabeth had convinced him that he couldn't just have an entire cabin dedicated to himself, as he might end up with siblings at some point.

"Nico."

Nico didn't stir.

"Nico!"

Nico rolled over, but didn't open his eyes.

Percy sighed. He was now going to have to resort to desperate measures. "Death Breath! If you don't wake up right now, I'm going to throw all your Mythomagic dolls into the ocean!"

Nico sat bolt upright, clutching his new shield/Mythomagic display case. "No! Never! They're figurines, not dolls!"

Percy shrugged. "Whatever. At least you're awake."

Nico blinked. "Percy? What are you doing in here? It's way too early!"

"Nico, it's almost eight o' clock."

"Exactly," he said, "Way too early. Wake me up later." He fell back on his pillow and closed his eyes.

"Oh, come on Nico. Annabeth needs you."

"Don't care," he mumbled. "Too tired."

"Nico, Athena sent Annabeth a quest this morning, and she wants you to come along."

Nico opened one eye. "A quest?"

Percy nodded.

Nico considered that. "Will there be monsters?"

"Most likely."

Nico sat up and jumped out of bed. "Awesome! This will give me a chance to test out my new shield!"

"Good. Get dressed, get packed, and meet us in the dining pavilion."

"Okay!" Nico agreed.

Percy left the Hades cabin, heading for the dining pavilion. Ever since someone had pointed out that isolating cabins at the different tables did not exactly encourage friendship between the different cabins, that rule had been done away with. A few campers still stuck to their own tables, but for the most part, everyone sat where they wanted to.

Annabeth was sitting at the Poseidon table, which surprised Percy. He normally sat wherever she did, but she liked hanging out at the Hephaestus table, where they could all bounce ideas off of each other about weapons, strategy, and magic items.

"There you are. Did you find Nico?" she greeted him.

Percy nodded, sitting down next to her. "He was still asleep. He'll be along in a little bit."

Annabeth smiled. "Good. So, here's what I've got worked out so far. We'll take a few pegasi and head north. Well, actually, we'll head more northwest."

"Any destination in particular?" he asked her, pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

"Minnesota," said Nico, sliding onto the bench on the other side of Annabeth.

Annabeth looked at him in surprise. "Yeah. How did you know?"

Nico shrugged. "Last night I dreamed about gophers. Minnesota's the gopher state."

Annabeth shrugged. "True. But yeah, that's where we're headed."

"Great!" said Nico, his mouth full of banana bread. He swallowed, and asked, "When do we leave?"

Annabeth looked solemn. "As soon as you two finish breakfast," she stated.

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><p><strong>Question time! What is one thing that you know about Minnesota, besides that it is a state? Who knows... I might slip your answer into the fic later on if I like it!<strong>

**Queen out!**


	4. A Pegasus Strike and Other Bad News

**Chapter 4... Used to be chapter 6... Not anymore. But hey, at least we still have duct tape. Me no own PJO. Read!**

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

It was actually closer to lunch by the time the questers actually left the camp. This was partly due to the fact that the pegasi were on strike.

They had gathered their supplies after breakfast, and then headed to the stables.

"Morning, Blackjack," Percy had greeted his pegasus, rubbing him gently on the nose.

"_Yo, Boss! Wassup?"_ Blackjack whinnied.

Percy shrugged. "The sky? But hey, listen, my friends and I need a favor."

Blackjack looked at him suspiciously, which is a hard expression to pull off for a horse. _"What kind of favor?"_

Percy scratched his head, trying to look nonchalant. "Oh, just a ride. To Minnesota."

"_Minnesota?" _Blackjack neighed. _"Well, sorry, Boss, but I just remembered I have, uh… something else. Happening. At the exact time your trip is. Sorry, but it's a no-can-do. And anyway, the Pegasi are on strike."_

"On strike?" repeated Percy, puzzled. "Why?"

Blackjack tried to look pitiful as he answered, _"The Pegasi Union of America has decided that we Pegasi are not getting fair compensation for the amount of work we put in. The charts reveal that the sugar cube to travel ratio is alarmingly low. Thus, we are on strike. Sorry, Boss."_

Percy was incredulous. "There's a Pegasi Union of America?"

Annabeth looked at Percy like he had gone crazy. "What are you talking about?"

"The pegasi are on strike," Percy explained.

Annabeth frowned for a moment, but then her face brightened. Quickly donning a sad expression, she said loudly, "Well, I guess we'll just have to ask the unicorns instead. Too bad. Come on, guys." She turned as if to leave the stables.

"_Whoa, there!" _nickered Blackjack. _"Don't ask the unicorns. Unicorns are dumb. They can't even fly."_

"_Yeah!"_ agreed some other Pegasi who had been listening in on the conversation.

Percy translated for Annabeth.

Annabeth put her head to the side. "Hmm, perhaps you're right."

"_You bet I am," _replied Blackjack.

"But," continued Annabeth, "Who else can take us? If not unicorns, then who? I mean, I'd ask you guys, but you're on strike…"

Several pegasi shifted around uncomfortably. A few looked at each other, but then looked away again. _"Well, maybe we could take a break from the strike…"_ one suggested.

Percy relayed this to Annabeth, but Annabeth just shook her head.

"No, you guys are on strike, and I respect that. The unicorns will just have to do, I guess."

The Pegasi started quite the uproar.

"_What?! No! Down with the unicorns!"_

"_Unicorns stink! Take us! We'll get you there faster then any unicorn could! Pointy-horned ponies."_

"_We were just kidding about the strike. Oh, Great-One-Who-Smells-of-Fish, please tell the Smart One that we would be happy to take her wherever she wishes, as soon as she wants."_

Percy was indignant. "I do not smell like fish!"

Nico leaned over and sniffed Percy's arm. "You're right, Percy. You smell more like dolphins. Dolphins are not fish. They're mammals."

Percy glared at Nico, but Annabeth was laughing.

"What do the Pegasi say, Percy?" she asked, once she had regained composure a little.

"They say they'll be happy to give us a ride," he told her. "But we should probably stock up on the sugar cubes."

"_Yes!"_ snorted Blackjack, _"That's a great idea, Boss. When do we leave?"_

Percy smiled. "Right now."

And so, they were off. Blackjack, Guido, and a pretty honey-colored mare named Tiff carried their passengers valiantly onward. And though pegasi are fairly fast flyers, they only made it to Pennsylvania by nightfall.

Throughout the flight each rider had mostly kept to themselves. Nico had gone back to sleep, Annabeth was pouring over maps and charts, and Percy was coming up with ways to keep Annabeth safe during different scenarios.

Tour guide turning into a monster? Keep Annabeth in the back of the crowd and kill the monster.

Monster chases them down a dark alley? Have Annabeth go invisible and kill the monster.

They stumble across a monster camp in the middle of nowhere? Summon a hurricane and kill all the monsters, while Annabeth watches. And then kiss her. Yeah. Good plan.

_These plans might not work though,_ the irritating part of his brain reminded him. _Annabeth isn't usually content with watching you kill the monsters. She likes to get in on the action._

Percy frowned. This was true. His girlfriend did like to be in the thick of things. Nervously, he rubbed the spot on his arm were his marks were. He couldn't fail on this quest. Not if he wanted his future with Annabeth secure. But if he wasn't allowed to tell her about his mission, how was he going to pull this off?

"Alright, Seaweed Brain?" Guido, carrying Annabeth, moved closer to Blackjack. "You look worried."

Percy shrugged. "A little, I guess. It's just that Minnesota is about as far away from the ocean as you can get. It makes me jittery."

"Did you know that Scotch Tape was invented in Minnesota?" Annabeth asked him.

Percy looked at her, puzzled. "Okay… What does that have to do with anything?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I thought it might make you feel better. But cheer up, Percy. There may not be any ocean nearby, but there'll be lots of water. They don't call it the land of ten thousand lakes for nothing, you know."

Just then, Nico fell off his pegasus. Again.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

His pegasus, Tiff, swiftly executed a retrieve, and Nico landed solidly on her back, letting out an "Oof!"

Percy shook his head. "Seriously, Nico, you need to stop doing that. You're going to give yourself a heart attack."

Nico scowled. "I don't try to fall off, it just happens!"

"Well," Annabeth observed, "Maybe you shouldn't try to take a nap while flying."

"Can't help it," Nico yawned. "It's worse than shadow-traveling. It just…makes me…so…so…" He dozed off again.

Annabeth looked at him, concerned. "Is it just me, or does he seem to be super tired lately?"

Percy frowned. "Yeah, I guess so. Ever since Gaea had him being held prisoner in the Caverns of Hypnos. Maybe he contracted mono or something."

Annabeth looked at him in surprise. "Do demigods get mono?"

"I don't know," Percy admitted. "When we stop for the night, we'll Iris message one of the Apollo kids and ask, okay?"

Annabeth nodded and went back to her charts.

They reached Pennsylvania around 6:00 in the evening, and decided to stop there for the night. They found a small hotel and got a couple rooms for the night, and then went to get dinner. (McDonald's, at Nico's insistence.)

Leaving the pegasi parked at the back of the hotel, they turned in for the night.

Nico went to sleep immediately, but Percy stayed up for a bit watching a Jaws special. It was annoying, he reflected to himself, how misunderstood sharks were. They weren't that bad really. Just like giant, overgrown, carnivorous puppy dogs.

It was just getting to the intense part of the movie when there was a knock on the door.

Percy froze, panic filling his mind. What if it was a monster at the door? And what if that monster had already gotten Annabeth? What if he had already failed the quest, not even a full day in?

The knock came again. "Percy?" came Annabeth's voice.

Still Percy did not move. What if it was a Cyclops, imitating Annabeth's voice to get him to answer the door?

"Fine. Well, I'm coming in." There was a click and the doorknob started to turn.

Percy snapped out of it in an instant, jumping up, uncapping Riptide, and willing the mini-sink in the room's kitchenette to blast the entering person with a jet of water.

"Thanks a lot, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, standing in the doorway, now dripping wet.

Percy relaxed. "Oh, it's you."

Annabeth glanced at him, annoyed, as she started to wring out her hair. "Who'd you think it was? Voldemort?"

Shrugging, Percy capped his sword. "I don't know. Sorry. I guess I'm just kind of nervous. Here, let me." He reached over and touched her hair, willing it dry.

Annabeth felt her hair. "Wow. That's better than a blow-dryer. Thanks, Percy."

Percy smiled. "No problem. Now what's up?"

"Iris message."

"Ah, right.

They had forgotten to bring the emergency prism, so Percy had to make some mist. This wasn't hard, but it tended to get things kind of damp. With Nico snoring away in the background, he bent over the kitchen sink, rubbing his hands together as if to warm them up. Tendrils of mist (not the magic kind) started to trail from his fingers. A few minutes later, he had a pretty good mist worked up.

Annabeth took her sunlight (a device thought up by the Athena kids, built by the Hephaestus kids, and made possible by the Apollo kids,) and shined it onto the mist, creating a successful and very pretty rainbow.

"O Fleecy," Annabeth intoned, "Do me a solid. Show us Will Solace at Camp Half-Blood."

The image shimmered and dissolved into the image of the Head of the Apollo cabin, Will Solace. He was sitting on his bunk, deeply engrossed in the book he was reading, an ancient Greek translation of The Hunger Games.

"Will!"

He looked up, startled, and then broke into a grin. "Percy! Annabeth! Hi!"

"Hey, Will," Annabeth returned his greeting. "How are you?"

Will shrugged. "I'm good. So is my book. How about you? How's the quest going?"

"Can't complain. But then again, it's only the first day. But actually, it's Nico we're worried about."

Will frowned. "What's wrong?"

"He's just so tired. He keeps falling off his pegasus and he can't keep his eyes open. And it's getting worse."

"Hmmm. I see. When did it start?"

"Right after we rescued him from the Caverns of Hypnos," Percy replied.

Will paled. "Did you say the Caverns of Hypnos?"

Percy nodded. "Is that bad?"

Without answering the question, Will stood up from his bunk and crossed the room, the image following him. He stopped at a bookshelf built into the wall, and selected a book. Brushing the dust off the cover, he opened it, checked the index and turned to a certain page. He read its contents, and his face fell.

"What is it?" asked Annabeth, apprehensively.

"So he's super tired? Trails off in the middle of sentences? Muscle fatigue? Can't stay awake for long periods of time?"

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other. "Yeah," they agreed. "That sounds about right."

Will snapped the book shut, a grim expression on his face. "Nico has Hypnosentitus," he informed them.

Percy frowned. "Come again?"

"Hypnosentitus," repeated Will. "A sleep-based disease. Caused by over-exposure to the dust of the Caverns of Hypnos. If inhaled for extended periods of time, it will cause the victim to become sleepier and sleepier over time, until…"

"Until what?" asked Annabeth, dreading the answer.

Will looked grave. "Until the day when they fall asleep again, but never wake up."

"Hang on," Percy said, "Are you saying—"

"Yes," replied Will. "If you can't find a cure soon, Nico will die."

* * *

><p><strong>Uh-oh! They're in trouble!<strong>

**I think that originally I asked what you thought would cure him... But now I'm going to ask you which of the seven you think will die by the end of the HoO series. I think it will be Frank. Your opinion?**

**Queen out!**


	5. Pretty Much a Filler Chapter

**...And...Cue reaction! Btw, thanks to all of my previous reviewers/subcribers/favoriters! You guys rock! It's so exciting whenever I think that I've got over 40 people who get an e-mail every time I update this... Anywho, I don't own anything but the plot. Happy reading!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

Percy sat down heavily on the edge of one of the hotel room beds. "This is not good. How do we cure Nico?"

Will, still being viewed through the Iris message, shrugged. "It says in the book that Hypnosentitus is pretty easy to treat if you know you have it. The problem is making the treatment. It involves some pretty weird ingredients."

"What ingredients?" asked Annabeth.

"Well, it's odd. They're almost all sea-related. Let's see, it says a green oyster, some luminous coral, a lure from Poseidon's tackle box, and a fish with eyes like a wall. You have to mix these into a potion, have Nico drink the potion and then... oh…"

"What?"

"It says here that you must have Nico hold a dragon's scale, while the same dragon you got the scale from breathes fire over him."

Annabeth stared at Will. "You're kidding."

Will grimaced. "Sorry, but I'm not. That's the only way to heal him."

"But having a dragon breathe fire on Nico will kill him! And anyway, where are we supposed to find a dragon, let alone get it to do what we want it to? Dragons don't grow on trees, you know!"

"Hey, that's just what the book says, okay? I don't make the rules."

Annabeth sighed. "I know. It just seems impossible."

Will shut his book and put it back on the shelf. "Hey, we're demigods, remember? We live the impossible every day."

"I guess so." Annabeth shrugged.

Will looked thoughtful. "Hey, you guys are headed to Minnesota, right?"

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"The Mayo clinic is in Minnesota. You know, one of the best medical facilities in the United States? One of my brothers founded it. But anyway, it just so happens that they issued a report on the healing properties of oysters last month. So that means—"

"They must have oysters on campus! Great!" Annabeth perked up. "Thanks Will!"

Will smiled. "No problem. Call me back when you get all the ingredients, and I'll tell you how to mix them together. Bye!" He waved a hand through the Iris message, and it shimmered away.

Annabeth was now pacing the floor. "This is making sense. Did you notice that all the ingredients were exactly what we need to find anyway for the quest? My mom must have known that Nico has Hypnosentitus, and that's why we have to find those things. But what about the dragon? Percy, are you even listening to me?"

Percy was not really listening to her. He had gone slightly into shock. A dragon? That's what would cure Nico? Great. But no, not great, because he wasn't allowed to tell anyone about his new gift. Oh, this was so messed up.

"Percy, are you okay?"

Percy blinked. "What?"

Annabeth frowned. "I asked you if you were okay."

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired."

"Alright then. I'm going to head back to my room now. Oh, here."

She pulled what looked like a cell phone out of her pocket and handed it to him. "It's one of my new walkie-talkies. Call me if you need anything."

Percy nodded. She kissed him, and left the room. He turned off the light and fell asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, they were off to an early start, much to Nico's displeasure.

"So," asked Percy, "Where're we headed?"

"Mayo clinic," Annabeth replied.

Nico paled. "A clinic? With doctors?"

"Uh, yeah? Why?"

Nico blushed. "No reason. But I don't have to get a shot, do I?"

Percy yawned. "No, you don't have to get a shot."

Nico sighed with relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I hate needles."

"You do?" Annabeth asked, looking slightly amused.

"Yeah!" Nico said earnestly. "They're terrible! All sharp and pointy…"

"But you're not afraid of swords," Percy pointed out. "Swords are sharp and pointy."

"Well, that's different," Nico said. "If someone sticks me with a sword, I can stick them back. If a doctor gives you a shot, you're not allowed to stick a needle back into them. I learned that the hard way."

"Oh," was all that Percy could say.

The day passed pretty quickly, and was uneventful. Besides a few nebulae and passing airplanes, the skies were deserted. Percy watched the scenery pass by below, and thought about how complicated this quest was becoming. Keep Annabeth safe. Find ingredients to heal Nico. More random blue jell-o. Become a dragon to heal Nico. Don't let Annabeth or Nico know that he could become a dragon. Yes. Quite confusing. Especially the jell-o.

The Pegasi made very good time, and they crossed the borderline into Minnesota just before nightfall.

"We can hit the clinic tomorrow," Annabeth decided. "We'll rest tonight."

They found another hotel, and while Annabeth and Nico checked in, Percy went to pick up the pizza that they had called ahead for.

"Large extra cheese with olives," he told the guy at the drive through.

"Yeah, okay," said the guy. "Sweet ride, by the way."

Percy looked down at Blackjack. Taking his Pegasus through the drive-through probably wasn't his best idea ever, but he hadn't really felt like walking.

"Uh, thanks. I call him Blackjack."

"Sweet," the guy repeated, handing the pizza out the window.

Balancing it in one hand, Percy paid the guy with the other, and then instructed Blackjack to fly back to the hotel.

"Seriously? You took Blackjack through the drive through?" Annabeth asked a while later, helping herself to a slice of pizza.

Nico laughed. "Brilliant, Perce."

Percy frowned. "Perce?"

"Do you like it? I've been trying to come up with a nickname for you, since your real name is so weird."

"My name is not weird!" Percy looked at Annabeth. "Is it?"

Annabeth smirked. "There's a reason I call you Seaweed Brain, and it's not just because of your IQ level."

Percy pouted. "I like my name."

Nico shrugged. "I never said it was a _bad _name, I just said it was weird. But I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, P-man."

Annabeth burst out laughing, and after a minute, Percy joined in. For a moment, he was able to forget his troubles. But just then, Nico nodded off into the pile of olives he had stacked onto his plate.

Annabeth looked at Nico, then at Percy. "He's getting worse."

Percy nodded. "I know. Here, help me put him to bed."

Together, they moved Nico from the floor to one of the beds. He didn't stir at all.

Annabeth looked at the clock. "I'd better get to sleep. If you need me, just use the walkie-talkie. Okay?"

"Okay."

She smiled, and gave him a quick kiss. "Goodnight, P-man."

"Hey!" said Percy, but she just laughed and left the room.

Percy stood there for a moment after she left. He was feeling very restless all of a sudden. Yeah, he was tired, but he was also rather jittery. Coming to a decision, he snagged a room key and left the room. Once in the hallway he headed for the stairwell and followed it down to the main level. He pushed open the side door and ended up in the parking lot.

The Pegasi were parked a few feet away, but that's not why he had come out here. He walked around to the back of the building, which bordered on a large group of trees. Closing his eyes, he slumped against the side of the building, concentrating hard.

When he opened his eyes, his Marks were there, glowing slightly.

Almost unbidden, the word jumped into his mind. _Three._

The transformation was not as stressful this time, and in almost no time at all, he was a dragon once again.

Flexing his wings, he took off, flying into the night.

"Percy? Percy, wake up!"

Percy opened his eyes, blinking against the sunlight. He felt rather stiff, as if he had spent the night out in the parking lot instead of in a nice warm hotel bed.

"Why on earth did you sleep out here?"

Percy sat up and looked around. He was not in a nice warm hotel bed.

Annabeth was looking at him with concern. "The parking lot is not one of the safest places, you know."

"What am I doing here?"

Nico, leaning against Tiff the Pegasus, yawned. "I don't know. You weren't in the room when Annabeth woke me up this morning. Your bed was still made. She was freaking out." He turned to Annabeth. "See? I told you Hera didn't demi-god-nap him again."

"But that doesn't explain why you're in the parking lot," Annabeth addressed Percy, waving off Nico's words.

Now that Percy thought about it, he did remember how he had ended up in the parking lot. But he couldn't tell Annabeth and Nico what had really happened, so he quickly said, "I came down to check on the Pegasi. I guess I must have fallen asleep." He watched their expressions, hoping they would buy it. They did.

Annabeth relaxed. "Oh. Okay. But next time leave a note or something, okay? You scared me half to death."

Percy stretched and winced. The parking lot definitely did not make the most comfortable bed. "Sorry, Wise Girl. I'll do better next time."

After snagging some bagels from the free breakfast and checking out of their hotel, they headed off on the Pegasi once more. Percy was tired, seeing as he had been up most of the night, and had just nodded off when Annabeth exclaimed,

"Welcome to Rochester, Minnesota, home of the Mayo clinic."

He jerked upright. "We're here? Already?"

"Yup," Annabeth answered back. "Wake Nico up, will you?"

After much shouting and prodding, Percy got Nico awake.

He yawned. "We're here? Already?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Yes, already. Now here's the plan."

She told them the plan. Nico fell asleep again. Percy woke him up. Annabeth altered the plan so that Nico did not have a vital role. Nico pouted. Percy frowned.

"Can we get started? The sooner we're out of here the better."

They landed the Pegasi in the busy parking lot. Percy told them to stay put.

"_I'm not sure about this, boss,_" Blackjack said, skittish.

"Nico will wait with you," Percy told him.

"I will?" yawned Nico.

"Yes," Annabeth said firmly, "You will."

Nico shrugged and leaned back against Tiff. "Fine. But make it snappy," he said sleepily.

Annabeth nodded. "Okay." She looked at Percy. "You ready?"

Percy grinned at her. "Am I ever not ready?"

Together, they started towards the front doors.

* * *

><p><strong>And there... they... go! Vote for Pedro.<strong>

**Question time! If you could take any mythical creature through the drive-through, what would you choose?**

**Favorite! Review! Subscribe! Queen out!**


	6. The Horror of Oysters

**New person in this chapter! Tell me what you think of her. This is the last of the reformatted chapters. What are you still doing here? Read on! But remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires. And I don't own PJO.**

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><p>Chapter 6<p>

The minute they stepped through the doors, the hospital aroma hit them. Percy grimaced; he had never liked that smell.

Annabeth led the way over to the front desk, where a smiling young woman sat, typing away at a computer and talking into a headset.

"I'll schedule you in for the fourteenth. Uh-huh. All right then. Good-bye." The woman reached up and tapped her earpiece, and then noticed them. "Oh, hello! Why didn't you ring the bell?"

Annabeth blinked. "Uh…"

"We didn't want to be rude?" Percy tried.

The woman laughed. "Oh, that's cute! He didn't want to be rude!"

"Um, we were wondering if you could help us," Annabeth said.

"Help you?"

"Yeah. We're looking for something."

"Aren't we all?" the woman was starting to look a bit bored. Annabeth's hand was straying to the pocket where her knife was concealed, so Percy intervened.

"Yes, but we're looking for something specific."

The woman frowned. "Spit it out, will you? I don't have all day. I'm not my brother, you know."

Percy was confused. "Your brother?"

"Yeah. If you've ever been up to Olympus, you've met him. He's supposed to guard the entrance, but I don't think he does a very good job. _I_ would never abandon my post."

"Wait, the front desk guy at the Empire State building is your brother?" Annabeth asked.

"Yup," the lady huffed. "And unlike him, I actually do something. So if you could please tell me what it is you need, I would be very happy."

"We're looking for an Oyster," Percy said. "Can you help us?"

The lady smiled. "Of course! Though you may not like what you find."

"Great!" said Percy, just as Annabeth said "Wait, what do you mean?"

The woman had already started tapping away at her computer. "Let's see, Natural Cures, Subdivision Ocean, category oysters. That would be on level 9, lab 16. Be careful." And with that she turned away.

"Okay." Percy turned to Annabeth. "You stay here and I'll go investigate."

Annabeth looked at him like he was insane. "Not an option. We stick together, remember?"

Percy frowned. "Fine. I'll take the lead."

He led them over to the elevators. He led them into the elevator. He led them out of the elevator five seconds later.

"We're taking the stairs," he told Annabeth. "They're safer."

Annabeth shot him a weird look, but didn't question him.

He led them up all nine flights of stairs. So far, so good. No monsters.

When they got to the landing of level nine however, they were forced to stop.

"Authorization required to prom dress this level," Percy read.

"Access," Annabeth corrected. "Try the handle."

It was locked.

Percy rolled up his sleeves. "Time for plan KDDDS."

"Plan KDDDS? What's that?" Annabeth asked, watching as Percy backed up.

"Kick Down Door Demigod Style," Percy said, and then charged at the door.

It took two more tries, but the door was finally off its hinges.

Annabeth kissed him, and then pulled out her walkie-talkie. "Nico!"

"W-what?" asked Nico, sounding like he was yawning.

"Still alive?" Annabeth asked him.

"So far," Nico replied.

"Good. We're about to head onto level 9. If we don't make contact within the hour, storm the hospital, okay?"

"Sure. Bye."

Annabeth stowed her walkie-talkie in her bag. "Let's go."

Percy led the way as they crept into the main hallway of level nine. Only the emergency lights were on, and the place seemed deserted.

"Which lab, again?"

"Sixteen," Annabeth replied.

Just then, Percy heard something. A very soft slithering sound. He whirled around.

Nothing.

"What?" Annabeth whispered.

"I thought I heard something."

"Well, here's lab sixteen." Annabeth pointed at one of the doors.

Percy tried the handle. To his surprise, it was unlocked.

The inside of the room was composed of an entire wall covered in fish tanks, several computers, a couple counters with all of the science-y looking stuff you see in movies, and oysters. Lots and lots of oysters. They were in the fish tanks. They were on the counters in little containers filled with water. There were pictures of oysters all over the walls that didn't have fish tanks. In short, it was an oyster lover's paradise.

"Okay, I am slightly wierded out," Annabeth muttered.

"Me too," Percy agreed. "Which one do we need?"

"A green one," Annabeth said.

Percy looked around. There were brown oysters. There were black oysters. There were some purplish oysters.

"Found it," Annabeth said, pointing to one of the fish tanks.

Percy came over. She was right. It was a green oyster.

"Annabeth?"

"Yes?"

"It's at the very bottom of the tank."

"Yeah?"

"I suppose you're going to make me get it?"

"Well I'm not reaching in there."

Percy grimaced. "Darn."

Annabeth looked at him. "What's the matter? You're the one who doesn't get wet."

"I don't like oysters. They're irritating."

"Why and how?"

"Oysters are not very smart. Most sea creatures can sense my presence without me being in the water, but oysters can't. All they care about are their pearls."

"I'm not seeing the problem here, Seaweed Brain."

"All they can think of are pearls. And they sound like Gollum."

"Are you telling me that oysters are constantly saying 'my precious'?"

Percy smiled. "Oh good. You understand."

Annabeth did not look amused. "Reach in there and grab that oyster. Now."

Percy stuck out his bottom lip. "Meanie." He stuck his hand into the tank. Instantly, the sound of 30 oysters, all hissing 'my precious' flooded his mind.

"Argh!"

Annabeth looked alarmed. "Percy!"

Percy forced his eyes open and saw that his fingers were almost touching the green oyster. He grabbed at it, and pulled his arm out of the tank.

"Here!" he shoved it at Annabeth, who caught it and quickly dropped it into one of the small containers filled with water. She snapped the lid closed. "Mission accomplished."

"Good. Let's get out of here."

Annabeth stuck the container in her bag and followed Percy towards the door.

Percy opened the door and listened hard, but heard nothing. "Okay. Come on." He started down the hallway, moving as fast as he could while being as quiet as possible. He made it to the landing and turned around. Annabeth was not there.

"Wise Girl?" he whispered.

Nothing.

"Oh, great," he mumbled, taking his pen out of his pocket. He was about to uncap it, when a sudden thought struck him. What if he were to go in dragon style? It would probably be more efficient. He could save Annabeth, kick monster but, and be out before you had time to say oyster. It would be great. The marks appeared on his arm, glowing faintly. But just then he heard a cry.

"PERCY! He—" the call was cut off suddenly.

With one swift movement and without another thought, he uncapped his sword and ran back into the unlit hall.

* * *

><p><strong>Ooooh... Well, hey, I have a new Fic posted. It's a Rise of the Guardians oneshot called Jack's Frost. You should go check it out. It's pretty cool (literally.)<strong>

**Question time! If you had an animal nemesis, what would it be?**

**Review... Subscribe... Favorite... you know the drill. Queen out!**


	7. Dragon Boy vs Snake Lady

**Oh. Um. Well, this is embarrassing. Most of you probably don't even remember this story. So... RECAP TIME!**

-Okay, so Percy and Co. defeated the Giants, and were being rewarded.

-For his reward, Percy was granted the ability to turn into a creature that is welcome in the realms of all of the Big Three. (Air, Water, and Underland.) This creature turns out to be a shadow-traveling sea dragon.

-Upon realizing this, Percy is soon visited by Athena, who gives him a quest to win her approval once and for all. He must go questing with Annabeth and Nico without letting his friends know about the dragon thing.

-The quest they go on is to find ingredients to cure Nico of a sleep disease he contracted during the battle with the giants. In the last chapter, they had visited the Mayo clinic to find an oyster to help make the cure. Then Annabeth got captured, and here we are.

**So that's where we are. Now, you can skip down now, or stick around and listen to the reasons I didn't post this for so long. **

Reason 1-** I'm lazy. **Reason 2**- HoH came out. I must say, it really threw me for a loop. The Nico being gay thing... Well, I didn't expect that. It kinda threw off my writing of him. **Reason 3-** I've started to fall out of this fandom. It started with Demigod Diaries, but HoH sealed the deal. Sad, but true. **Reason 4-** College. And work. And life. **Reason 5-** Lack of motivation for this story. Need. More. Reviews! ;)**

**Okay, so those are my reasons. Go read the story now. You've waited long enough.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 7<p>

Percy ran down the hall, shouting Annabeth's name as he went. He couldn't believe that he had let her get captured- she had been right behind him! Suddenly, he found pitching forward, the realization that something had tripped him registering just a few seconds too late.

"Oopsssss," a snakey voice hissed at him. "Sssssssssorry. Didn't ssssssssee you there."

Percy gathered himself into a crouched position. He couldn't see who was talking, but he knew what she was. The s's made it obvious. A Dracaena. A snake woman.

"Ssssssilly boy," the voice continued. "Wandering around, all by yoursssssself. Don't you know thissssss floor issss off limitsssss?"

Moving slowly, Percy reached for his sword, lying on the ground a few feet away.

"Intruderssss are not generally welcome here. I ssssupossse I ssshall have to take you in. Oh, none of that!" Something came out of the dark, hitting the sword and sending it skidding off down the corridor. "Now come, boy. My Mistresssss will want to ssssee you."

A scaly hand grasped his elbow, and Percy shuddered, but didn't shake her off. Chances were, she would take him to where Annabeth was. Then he could simply grab his girlfriend and run.

The snake woman kept a firm grasp on him as she led him down the hall to the very far end, and then through a door into one of the labs. Unlike the oyster one however, this one had people in it.

"Percy!" Annabeth was tied up in a corner, but didn't look hurt. "Run!"

"Don't lisssten to her," his snake woman said. "That would resssult in painful death, I asssure you."

Percy stayed quiet, but shot Annabeth what he hoped was a reassuring look.

Annoyance wrote itself across the snake woman's reptilian features. "What? Nothing to sssay, Ssssson of the Sssssea? Pity. Well, I sssshould call my Mistressssss."

To Percy's ssssurprise (er, surprise,) the dracaena released her hold on him and slithered across the lab to another door. She hesitated for a second, then knocked.

"What isssss it?" a harsh female voice called from within.

"Do you want to build a ssssssnowman, Mistressss?"

"Excusssse me?"

"Oh, I meant, I found another demigod, Mistresssss."

"Ah, lovely. My babies will be pleased."

A chill ran down Percy's spine. The voice reminded him of nails on a chalkboard. Just then, he felt his sword reappear in his pocket. Good. That would make the next part easier.

"Are you feeling any better, Misssstresss?" his dracaena asked the door. "Do you need anything?"

"No, I'm fine. Just prepare the demigods for my babies. They will be hungry upon their emergence."

"Assss you wissssh Mistressss." The dracaena turned to face Percy, but froze when she saw that he was holding a sword an inch from her face.

"Not a sound," he whispered.

"What was that, Sybil?" the voice called through the door.

Percy looked at the dracaena, but her mouth was firmly closed.

"Is everything all right?" the voice asked.

"Uh..." Percy knew something had to be said. He had to keep her from coming out. Trying to make his voice sound like the dracaena's, he said "Yessss, Mistresss. All issss well."

"Good. Hurry up."

Percy breathed a sigh of relief, and then ran the dracaena through with his sword. Her eyes were wide as she crumbled to dust. Running over to the corner, he sliced through Annabeth's bonds and helped her to her feet. Together they went straight for the door. Once in the hall however, Percy hesitated. "Get out of here. Go find Nico and get the pegasui. I'll meet you in the back parking lot."

Annabeth looked like she was going to object, so Percy quickly kissed her and pushed her toward the stairwell at the end of the hall. As she ran off, he turned back toward the lab. Time to meet the Mistresssss.

"Sybil? Where did you go? Pleasssse tell me you were not watching that ridiculous mortal children'ssss movie again."

Looking around the room, Percy saw that a laptop on one of the lab counters was indeed paused to a children's movie. One that he had actually enjoyed at that. Trying to make his voice sound like the dracena's again, he called, "Mistresss, I have a question for you."

"What issss it?"

While she had been replying, Percy had positioned himself right outside the door. Steeling his nerves, sword at the ready, he now burst through it. "Are you really sure you don't want to build a snowman? I mean, it doesn't HAVE to be a snowman!"

"ACHK!" The snake woman sputtered. "A demigod!"

Percy would have replied, but now he found that he had maybe not thought this through very well. For the room on the other side of the door was three stories tall. Just big enough to house its occupant. A giant humanoid snake lady.

"Sybil!" She screeched. "Sybil!"

Raising his sword, Percy shouted "Sybil is dead! And... who are you?"

The woman puffed herself up, green skin glistening. "I am the Minoan Ssssnake Goddess!"

"Um... Yeah, never heard of you." Percy said, edging toward one of her many snakey leg/tentacle things that spilled all over the floor of the room.

The woman shrugged, her brow furrowing. "The Greekssss would never fully adopt me asss their own. Sssstuck-up ssssnooty godssss. But no matter, for the monstersss embraced me, and I much prefer their company anyway. Better playmatesss for my children." She gestured to her side, and for the first time Percy noticed a large stack of glowing orange beach-ball sized—

"Are those _eggs_?" Percy asked, a little grossed out.

"Yes," she said proudly. "My babiesss. They will hatch ssssoon, and then I sssshall feed you to them."

Before Percy could quite process what she had said, one of her snakey limbs suddenly shot out and grabbed him. Bringing him up to her face, she looked him over. "Oh yessss, you'll do well. Ssssseafood. Very good for infantssss. Now, demigod, any last wordssss?"

Percy's mind was racing, but he forced himself to grin. "A few. First, Voldemort called. He wants his face back."

This puzzled the snake woman. "Voldemort? Who issss thissss Voldemort? I have not taken hissss face!"

Looking at her reptilian features, including her lack of a nose, Percy shook his head. "Nope. You definitely have it."

Her snakey arm tightened its grip on him, and he winced. She was now very upset. "Well, it'ssss mine now. Wassss that all you have to ssssay?"

Percy shook his head. "One other thing. That movie your assistant was watching? It's actually pretty good. But there was one thing it kinda lacked though..."

"Oh? What isss that?"

Percy smiled. "Dragons." With that, he drew upon the power of the Marks, and suddenly, the room was entirely too small.

"ACCCHHH!" Her hold on him broken, the snake lady was now shoved into the corner of the room as his dragon form filled the remaining space.

Percy shook his head, trying to rid himself of the disorientation that came with the transformation. Spotting the pile of eggs lying unguarded at his feet, he tried something new. Fire breathing. As soon as he had thought of it, he could feel it rising within him, building until he opened his mouth. Out poured a stream of dark, electrified, scalding saltwater, that instantly boiled the eggs as soon as the liquid hit them.

"My babiesss!" the snake goddess shrieked, and Percy looked up, hitting her directly in the mouth with the spray.

With a sound like the hissing of a million snakes, she clawed at the wall as she began to melt under the power of the liquid shadow lightning. Her snakey legs gave out from under her, and she collapsed against the wall, only for it to give way under her immense weight. With another cry, she fell out of the building.

Percy, still in shock both from the power of his breath and the melting and falling of the snake lady, finally remembered to close his mouth. On all fours, he approached the hole, looking down to the parking lot to find that she had collapsed into dust upon impact.

"Never insult _Frozen_ in front of me again!" he yelled down, but it just came out as a roar.

Well, mission accomplished. He heaved a sigh of relief, and was just about to turn back to a human, when suddenly, a panicked whinnying sounded in his mind.

"_Dragon! Dudes, run for your life!"_

"_Wait!"_ Percy tried to say, but it was no use. The voices faded, and he knew that the pegasai had just flown away.

Quickly, he retreated back into the building and changed back. He watched his arm as the marks slowly faded to nothing, and then ran through the clinic halls, ignoring the various alarms going off as he went. Time to face his girlfriend.

"Percy!" she shouted, jumping into his arms once he reached the parking lot. "Don't ever do that again, Seaweed Brain!"

"Do what?" Percy asked cautiously.

She released him, pulling him out of the way as a firetruck drove past. "You know what. Kissing me as a distraction so you can fight the monster alone."

"Goddess," he corrected her, relieved that she wasn't talking about his dragon thing.

"What?!" she spluttered, just as Nico ran up.

"Guys, the pegasai took off! I don't know why, they suddenly just freaked out and bolted! And then I woke up, because I'd been using Tiff as a pillow, and a huge monster had fallen out of a hole in the building, and there was a dragon, and—"

"Wait, a dragon?" Annabeth frowned. She looked at Percy. "Did you see a dragon?"

Percy shook his head, trying to keep what he hoped was a neutral expression. "Nope. No dragon. Only snake lady."

"Maybe that's what you saw, Nico," Annabeth said, turning to look at him, only to find him asleep on the ground. She looked back at Percy, worry written across her features. "We need to hurry."

Percy frowned as well. "Yeah. But now we don't have a ride."

Someone cleared their throat behind them.

Percy and Annabeth whirled around to find a handsome man in his early twenties glaring down at them. At least, he looked like he was glaring. It was hard to tell because of the sunglasses he was wearing.

"Did you three trash my research wing?"

Annabeth looked at Percy. "Um, maybe?"

"What?"

Percy frowned. "I said, maybe. And uh, sorry."

"Oh, hang on a sec!" reaching up, the man took off the purple beats headphones he was wearing, settling them around his neck. "Now then. What were you saying?"

"Sorry about the clinic," Percy said. "You had a Snake Lady breeding in there."

"Oh. Gross. Well, I guess I should say thanks then. Just be more careful next time." He turned to walk away.

"Lord Apollo?" Annabeth asked.

He looked back at her. "Yeah? What's up?"

"Well, since we did you the huge favor of ridding your clinic of monsters... Could we catch a ride?"

Apollo winked at her, causing Percy to frown. "No problem, Sweetheart. Where to?"

"Um..." She looked at Percy. Percy was about to shrug, but suddenly, he felt something. Almost like a magnetic pull. And then, he knew where to go.

"Mall of America," he said. "Time to do some coral shopping."

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><p><strong>So there it is. It won't take so long for the next chapters, I promise! Hopefully I will have this thing done by the end of summer. I'm thinking three more chapters will do it. Well, thanks for reading! I don't own anything that isn't mine. (Including Frozen. ;) ) Ooh, question time!<strong>

**Who is your favorite person from Frozen? Mine is Han's horse. I call him Steve. He's Maximus's brother.**

**Review/follow/favorite and tell your friends! Queen out!**


	8. Athena Approves (For Once)

**So, here is the end. But it's not what you're expecting. The thing is, I'm out of the fandom. I thought that the Blood of Olympus was highly disappointing, and I'm just no longer into it. I've outgrown it. The thing is though, I like to finish what I start, and this needed finishing. However, I do not have enough inspiration to finish the three to five chapters that I had originally planned to end this thing. Instead, you get a lovely summary of what I would have written about, plus the final scene. Enjoy.**

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><p>They travel to the Mall of America to find some luminous coral at the aquarium there. They run into Melpomene, the muse of tragedy, as she wanders around raising prices, overdrawing people's credit cards, and staining clothing. She helps them find the access hatch if they will let her keep Nico, whom she finds delightfully tragic. They leave him napping, and Percy and Annabeth go swimming for coral. They retrieve it, but then can't leave Nico, so Percy has to cry loudly while Annabeth gets Nico out.<p>

Once they're out, they need to find "a fish with eyes like a wall," which they deduce to be a walleye. They find a lake, Percy grabs one, it's all good. They're camping that night when Percy gets the urge to fly. He waits till Annabeth falls asleep, then transforms. He goes for a flight, but when he comes back, he accidentally wakes up Nico (while still in his dragon form,) who wakes up Annabeth, who also sees him in dragon form. He can't change back or else his quest from Athena is ruined, but they're attacking him, so he scoops them up, one in each hand, and flies away. After a while Nico falls asleep.

After flying for a few hours, he sees a huge body of water. He skims down to the surface, wills bubbles of air to surround his friends, and drops them in before flying over to shore and transforming back. He pulls them out of the water, pretending he had been grabbed too, just in one of the rear claws. When they get over the fact that an unknown dragon just kidnapped them, Annabeth curses the fact that they didn't get one of its scales for Nico's cure. Anyway, they figure out that they are now in Duluth, Minnesota. After wandering around a bit, Percy feels the pull toward the next artifact, a lure from Poseidon's tackle box. They follow it, but end up in a nest of baby Cetea, sea monsters that Poseidon uses as bait. Unfortunately, they are rather nasty towards demi-gods.

They run away and try to come up with a plan. Percy says he can talk sense into them, so he goes back to distract them. As soon as he is away, he turns back into a dragon. When the baby sea monsters see him, they think he's their daddy, and cuddle up asking for a story. He tell them of the three little hippocampi goats gruff, which provides enough of a distraction that Annabeth and Nico get the lure without being seen, or seeing him. They give the whistle signal, and Percy makes all the baby sea serpents go to sleep because they've now heard their bedtime story.

Percy rejoins Annabeth and Nico. They now have all the ingredients (except for the dragon scale and dragon,) so they Iris Message Will to ask how to mix the potion. It's gotten to the point where Nico is basically sleep-walking. Will gives them the recipe, they mix it up, and feed it to Nico.

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><p>"But what about the dragon part?" Annabeth asked, worry written across her features. "Look at him, he's almost dead!"<p>

Percy took a deep breath. "Annabeth, do you trust me?"

She frowned at him. "Of course. Why?"

"I need you to take a walk. Alone. For about ten minutes."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? And why do you need me to do that?"

Percy grimaced. "Please. I can't tell you now, but I promise I will as soon as I can, okay?"

Annabeth studied him for a minute, searching with her beautiful gray eyes. "Okay," she said at last. "Ten minutes." She walked away.

Percy took another deep breath, and transformed again. It was becoming almost as natural as all the deep breathing he was doing. Scratching off one of his own scales, he placed it gently with a claw into the boy's hand. "Hope this works," he mumbled, before opening his mouth and letting fire pour over his unconscious friend.

Ten minutes later, Annabeth returned to find a wide-awake Nico, a grinning Percy, and her mother.

"Mom!" she exclaimed, mouth falling open from shock. "What are you doing here?"

"You quest is complete," Athena replied, smiling. "And so is Percy's."

"What?" Annabeth asked him. "You had a quest too? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was one of the conditions of his quest that he didn't reveal it," Athena replied. "As was holding from you the secret of his gift."

"But I can tell you now!" Percy said. "And guess what? Your mom approves of me!"

"Indeed," Athena said coolly, looking at Percy with minor annoyance. "He seems to have proven himself worthy of you, my daughter. As you have both succeeded in your quests, you now have my blessing. Farewell."

They turned away as, with a flash, she vanished.

"So what's your gift, Percy?" Nico asked. "Bet it's not as cool as my Mythomagic shield."

"Forget the shield, how did you heal Nico? He needed a dragon to breathe fire over him!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Percy grinned. "How about I tell you both on the flight home?" And with that, he activated the marks of the Big Three.

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><p><strong>There you have it. Thank you to all of you who favorited, followed, or reviewed over the last couple years, it meant a lot to me and was the reason I didn't just delete this story. <strong>

**If you liked this, check out my other writing. I've got a Percy Jackson/Frozen crossover that's really fun called "Frozen Percy." Basically, what would happen if Percy loved Frozen and Annabeth didn't. It's cute. Go read it.**

**So. This is it. No more Percy Jackson for me. You guys have been great. Thank you. I mean it.**


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